.344 Transactions. 



they appeared to be conformable, but in the bottom of the creek the 

 junction appeared to be faulted. 



From these Deadman's Creek beds I collected fossils, which were deter- 

 mined by the late Mr. H. Suter as follows : Turritella murraijana Tate. 

 T. concava Hutt., Stntthiolaria tuherculafa Hutt., Polinices gibhosus (Hutt.), 

 Siphonalia suhnodosa (Hutt.), Voluta ambica Mart., V. depressa (Suter). 

 Glycymeris globosa (Hutt.), Dosivia greyi Zitt., and Protocardia sera Hutt. 

 This is certainly an Oamaruian assemblage, and very similar to that of 

 the sandy shell-beds of the White Rock River (Awamoan). 



The clifis farther up the stream are slipped for some distance, and there 

 is a gap in the ob.servable succession corresponding to about 100 ft. of 

 rock with the same dip. Then another band of the great Marlborough con- 

 glomerate appears, aljout 600 ft. thick, dipping about 60° to the north- 

 west (up-stream). This is similar in character to the first-mentioned band, 

 and passes up gradually into a very regularly bedded series of thin sand- 

 stones and fine conglomerates with occasional layers of mudstone, passing 

 in turn up to massive mudstones in the Ericaburn. Above this the dip 

 becomes reversed, and the mudstones can be again traced downwards into 

 sandstones and thin conglomerates. Beyond this there is a break in the 

 observable succession, and massive mudstones with large calcareous con- 

 cretions and a few friable fossils form large cliffs in the Ericaburn about 

 half a mile above its junction with Deadman's Creek, and present a great 

 resemblance to the Awatere mudstones in the upper part of Starborough 

 Creek (Awatere Valley). The thickness of the beds above the conglomerate 

 up to the point of reversal of dip was estimated at about 700 ft. 



It is exceedingly unlikely that there are two bands of great Marlborough 

 conglomerate separated by 300 ft. of marine sandstones, and it is almost 

 certain that a fault intervenes between the two outcrops. The boulders 

 of fossiliferous Tertiary sandstones in the conglomerate are so similar to 

 those formed by the present creek from the Deadmans Creek beds that 

 it seems exceedingly likely that it is to these latter beds that we must look 

 for the source of the bovdders of the conglomerate in this localitv. In 

 this case a fault must be interposed just above the lower conglomerate, 

 and the Deadman's Creek beds must be regarded as a facies of the " grey 

 marls." 



Origin and Age of the Great Marlhoroxigh Conglomerate. — Both Hector 

 and McKay regarded the great Marlborough conglomerate as fluviatile in 

 origin. " This singular conglomerate probably originated through erosion 

 by a great river-system which has since disappeared, and the subsec|uent 

 dislocation of the land-surface that it had covered with its alluvial detritus 

 in the form of shingle river-beds and great fan -shaped accumulations spread 

 out into the plains "' (Hector, 1886. p. xxxvi). McKay (1892. pp. 4-5) 

 described the rocks as having usually the character of glacier morainic 

 matter and more or less well-rounded river-gravels. " On the whole 

 it is a drift formation, and the evidence is conclusive that the drift of 

 the material was from south to north, or from the south-west to the 

 north-east." The evidence for this drift he found in the nature of the 

 fossiliferous Tertiary sandstones which were not found in situ in the area 

 occupied by the conglomerates but closely resembled rocks developed in 

 the Mason River and Lottery Creek, far to the south-west, and also in the 

 I)resence in the coastal area near Kekerangu of boulders of the Tapuaenuku 

 intrusives. We have already seen that this assumption is unnecessary, 

 since the Deadman's Creek beds to the north-east consist of fossiliferous 



